Slasher
by Naitachal666
Summary: AU Highschool fic soon yaoi Lives are altered when one of fates many twists bring an angry individual into a better light and a new life previously unknown to him. Gaara lives through the trials of new feelings that brood on the horizon and other things.
1. Bleeder

Alright, here we go. Oh yeah, this Chapter is a little different from the rest of the chapters that will follow because it's from an 'I' Point of View.

Summary: Basically, this is an AU highschool fic. Just this first chapter doesn't have anything to do with school. This particular school, Suna High, is modeled off of my own smalltown High School and Temari goes to college over in 'Konoha' which is based on a college in a big town fifty miles away from me that everybody goes to when they want to go anywhere (I've never been in the college!).

A/N: I'm writing this because I have writer's block concerning my other fic, Though The Devil May Take Me, an Gaara x Orochimaru fic that gets lots of 'I've never even thought of this pairing!' 'The best Yaoi I've read in a million zillion years!' and 'How did you make this pairing work!' sort of reviews.

Side note: If you don't like Yaoi, I'd suggest you don't read past Chapter Eight. I plan on putting men in bed, if and or other places, with other men later on in this story. I've only written 1 story that is not Yaoi. The other five or so are all Yaoi. There will always be Yaoi. You can count on it.

Disclaimer: If you think that I own Naruto, you have need of visiting a local and over-rated psychiatrist. I have, however, owned Gaara, Orochimaru, Kimimaru, and Sasuke (along with Itachi and all at the same time!) in my dreams.

And now...

Bleeder

**Gaara's POV**

The poison creeps in vermillion trails over my outstretched arms. It trickles from wounds I have inflicted upon myself of my own volition. I raise my splayed fingers and watch how they shiver with the weakness of blood loss. Stretched out in front of me, the objects of my only interest, my blood drenched limbs spasm as my thin lips twist into a semblance of a smile. I can feel my eyes stinging. They wish that I would blink, but I only continue to stare and cast my twisted, crazed grin at the poison that is my life-blood. My eyes feel as if they are as cracked as the ground becomes in times of drought. But still I do not quench my bloodshot orbs.

My face is contorted into something more akin to the cracked efface of a rabid beast. But then again, why should it not? My body is sustained by the scarlet glory that is my tainted blood. I carry the demon seed. It is intertwined with my soul and my blood is its life-support. Even if I were able to separate my soul from it, my blood would still be tainted.

Inside my head I hear the demon scream. It knows that if I persist any longer, it's fate will be mine own. The demon's cries escalate, a howling, chittering yelp that reminds me of the cornered barking of a treed raccoon. Many times before have I brought it to this point of desperation. Little does it know that I have not the power to take this torture further. I must make due on my promise. Even if it kills me, I must make due on my promise. I promised Temari and Kankuro that I wouldn't end it. Therefore I won't. But that doesn't mean I can't come close. I like getting close to the edge. It makes things so clear and sharp. And then it begins to dull to a point that will soon reach ecstasy. But alas, it is at this point that I must pull away. The crazed look leaves my face. I can feel it go.

I blink my eyes finally and reach over and down for the rags that I had draped over the edge of the bathtub before my stint and begin to blot at the slowly oozing blood that leaks from the raised tracks across my arms. After this, I wrap my arms tightly with the now stained rags to staunch the flow. After a few moments, when the thick liquid ceases to creep out of my body, I manage to stand. I tremble with the familiar weakness. My legs have the consistency of half-cooked pasta; stiff in the core, yet weak and watery feeling. And yet they are stable enough to hold me upright.

I lean against the wall, my shoulders slumped, my arms raised in an X before me with the free ends of the bloody rags hanging down. I've done this before, too many times to be afraid anymore. I can still count the number on two hands, but I will soon have to begin adding my feet into the equation. I can remember the first time - I will always remember the first time. I had almost gone too far. Back then, I was too afraid to die. There was still meaning left in the world. But now, now there is nothing. Temari and Kankurou, maybe. At least they care a little. But that still doesn't change anything.

I glance over at the clock. It is getting to be later than I would wish it to be so. Standing up straight and walking towards the sink, I grab the last of the rags I haven't used and drop them on the floor. I turn the handle labeled cold and dip my sticky fingers into the stream that pours forth from the faucet. As I begin to wash and treat my wounds, my foot is dragging the rags on the floor through the blood that had dripped there. Mostly, it is just smearing it around, but I intend to go back over it again.

After I have finished bandaging my mutilated limbs, I lean down and carefully pick up the rags. With the utmost care to not moisten my dressings, I rinse them out in the sink and wring them out until they are at a moist-damp state. I drop them back onto the floor and begin to clean away my life's-blood from the porcelain tile.

I rinse and wring the battered rags at least two more times before there is no trace of red-brown upon the polished tile. The rags sail through the air to land without decorum in the trash bin. I finally grab a navy blue hand towel from the cabinet and dry what wetness there is on the floor. It would never do to have someone, probably me, slipping on an untended wet floor. Now that that task is attended to, I remove my clothes and toss them in the hamper, replacing their presence on my body with a pair of hip-hugging pajama pants and an oversized long sleeved shirt.

At last, I am ready to find my way to slumber. I unlock the bathroom door and make my way down to the end of the hall and my bedroom. It is late and dark here in the house of Sabaku. Temari and Kankuro are long since abed and I am the only one wandering this dark hallway. Not that it bothers me much. The darkness is my only friend.

I enter my room with it's black painted walls and shut the door behind me, enveloping the room in total darkness. No matter to me. I make my way to my bed and lay down among the tossed covers. I don't sleep well on most nights, not at all for many. This night is an exception. I am tired and drained enough from the days troubled that I fall into a weary slumber. Maybe things will be better come morning.

--

Please Review!


	2. Come Morning, Come Unto Thyself

Summary: Basically, this is an AU highschool fic. This particular school, Suna High, is modeled off of my own smalltown High School and Temari goes to college over in 'Konoha' which is based on a college in a big town fifty miles away from me that everybody goes to when they want to go anywhere.

Gaara has an interesting day at school that leaves him stranded and wondering 'What now?'.

"Mr. Reyes" is a real person, and if Orlando Bloom was a Mexican...yeah...Mr. Reyes is his spitting image except in brown skin and black hair.

A/N: This is going to be a good story. I can tell.

Side note: If you don't like Yaoi, I'd suggest you don't read past Chapter Eight. I plan on putting men in bed, if and or other places, with other men later on in this story. I've only written 1 story that is not Yaoi. The other five or so are all Yaoi. There will always be Yaoi. You can count on it.

Disclaimer: If you think that I own Naruto, you have need of visiting a local and over-rated psychiatrist. I have, however, owned Gaara, Orochimaru, Kimimaru, and Sasuke (along with Itachi and all at the same time!) in my dreams.

Here goes!

Come Morning, Come Unto Thyself

Gaara woke up to the shrill trilling of his alarm clock at exactly six o' clock in the morning. His body being loath to move, he settled for rolling over flat on his face. _Fuck school. I'm not moving._

"Gaara! _Gaara! _It's _Monday_, dammit! Get up!" Temari's voice rang out from the hallway, causing Gaara's brow to twitch in annoyance. Just like always, another quiet morning ruined by the return of weekday events.

Even though he didn't want to, Gaara rolled himself out of bed and stood, sleepily rubbing at his eyes. For once, he had actually gotten some sleep, which may be a contributing factor to a possibly good attitude later on in the day. Nevertheless, Gaara was still easily annoyed at this early hour. One of his pale hands shot out and knocked the still shrieking alarm clock off of his dresser, effectively silencing it. That would mean another trip to the store sometime today and the buying of another alarm clock. Gaara took out at least one alarm clock a month. Kankurou had taken out one for everyday of the week before they had decided it was best that he _not_ get another one. Mostly it was Temari's say in the matter. Gaara never really said much, especially not concerning alarm clocks.

Heading for his closet, Gaara kicked the broken piece of machinery across his bedroom floor. Having reached his destination, he opened the door and stared glumly at the dismal selection of clothing before him. Not much to say about it in the least. Grabbing a favorite long-sleeve undershirt, a black tee and a pair of loose black jeans and slammed the door shut. He then pulled a pair of boxers from a dresser drawer to complete the outfit before heading to the bathroom to take a quick shower and change out his bandages.

After tossing his selected articles of clothing onto the closed toilet seat, Gaara stripped off his night-time clothes before removing his dressings, taking note that his wounds were not unduly inflamed. _Good, _he thought. _I don't need that right now, anyways._

Having assessed his condition, he stepped into the shower and pulled the door shut behind him. A moment later and steam began to cloud the mirror as the sounds of bathing could be heard within.

Temari poured orange juice into three glasses and set them on the table to wait upon the arrival of her brothers before she grabbed the bowl of pancake mix that she had made earlier and dished out proper-sized blobs of mix onto the hissing griddle that adorned their stove.

Occasionally checking back on the pancakes, she tended the bacon in the skillet upon the other burner. This was her usual morning chore; preparing breakfast for Kankuro, Gaara and herself. Anything from apple juice and French toast to milk and waffles could be depended upon her to serve on most any morning.

Better her than Kankuro, or god forbid, Gaara trying to make a presentable meal. At least Kankuro could put pastries in the toaster and have something reasonably warm pop out. Gaara couldn't even do that without burning _something._ Not necessarily the toaster pastries, either. Poor kid.

Flipping pancakes and bacon onto a platter and turning off the burners, Temari placed the big dish in the center of the table just as Kankuro managed to drag his ass into a chair and open his eyes for probably the first time this morning. Only moments after Kankuro had loaded down his plate with fully-edible grub, Gaara ghosted into the room and settled himself silently into a chair. He grabbed a few slices of bacon and a pancake or two and set to eating with a better appetite than usual.

_He's feeling good this morning, _Temari thought before smiling happily at her little brother and sitting down herself. She was pleased with his response; the corners of his mouth having curled faintly upwards, and not in that scary way he usually did it. _Definitely feeling good._

Gaara slid into the back seat of Kankuro's black hearse and leaned against the seat as Kankuro got into the driver's seat and Temari jumped into the passenger's side. First, Kankuro would take himself to his and Gaara's high school, and then Temari would drive herself over to her college in the next town over which was only about fifty miles away. Reverse order in the afternoon, Temari would come and pick them up and they would all go somewhere or back home.

Temari dropped Kankuro and Gaara off at the circle in front of their school and headed off as they made their way across the school yard and went inside. Students parted to make way for them and well they did. Kankuro was one of the surliest seniors to ever grace Suna High, and he liked to keep it that way. Gaara was just Gaara. People stayed away from him out of fear for their well being. When you even brushed his buttons, he could go off with no warning. Other days you could irritate him for a good while before he went off on you.

As anybody who had spent any amount of time going to Suna High could tell you, Gaara had been just like Kankuro in temper a few weeks before his father had died in a suspiciously faked accident. Then he just went blank, and a few days later, his father was dead and Temari was their legal guardian. Very suspicious indeed. Especially when the fiery haired boy began to snap with the littlest influence.

Having split the Red Sea of Students, or so to speak, the brothers continued past the cafeteria and on to the upstairs hall. None of the teachers even looked their way, even though students were not allowed to wander the upstairs hall before First Bell. They made their silent way down the echoing halls and entered Gaara's first period class, English II, almost fifteen minutes before class was due to begin. Gaara's teacher, Mr. Reyes, sat in his desk with his heels kicked back on the hardwood desk.

After glancing up at their entrance as he did every weekday morning, he said "You're too early. How come I have to help you every morning before I can teach anyone else?" as he also said every weekday morning. This was usual protocol in Mr. Reyes' class for Gaara. All he ever did was sit down in his desk at the far back of the room and open his English book to today's assignment. He was almost always done by the time the bell for class rang, that way he could do whatever he wanted during class while maintaining moderate to high grades in at least one class.

Kankuro waved at his little brother and left, leaving the redhead alone with The-Female-Half-of-the-School's-Favorite-Teacher.

A bell rang over head and students began to reluctantly pour into Gaara's First Period English II class. A few of the girls perked up measurably when they remembered just how hot their teacher way, but most of the students were still unwilling to begin their school day. After about ten minutes of disorderly conduct, Mr. Reyes stood in front of the class and began asking questions about the students latest book report project that was due next Thursday. Everybody else had done their reports on Speak, a book a bout some girl who gets raped that they had read in class last week. Gaara had done his on The Long Hard Road Out Of Hell by Marilyn Manson. He rarely, if ever, did a book report on the same book as everybody else, but Mr. Reyes graded according to how well done as apposed to subject matter.

Having spent the first fifteen minutes of class writing down a note or two on what their next project would be, Gaara pulled out a book by Stephen King, Pet Sematary and began to read.

It was Second Period and Shukaku, as Gaara had dubbed his demon, was muttering in his head. Just infantile, harmless things for now, but it would probably escalate into a scathing rage by the time school was out. For twenty minutes, he had been enduring some chic named Hailee singing some popular rap song that followed the lines of "Gettin' sum head, gettin', gettin' sum head. I was gettin' sum head" or some such. It would have been alright, normally, but not twenty minutes of ceaseless repeating of the same handful of lines over and over again. Gaara's head snapped up and he snarled in the general direction of the girl and she shut up fast enough for his liking. Bending his head down to work on his paper again, Gaara noticed the math teacher, Mr. Fiend, glaring at him from behind the overhead projector. Great, another teacher that was going to get on his case. Thank some deity that there were only three more periods until lunch. Then he could go and cool off outside for about an hour.

The bell finally rang and he shot up out of his seat and walked at a fast pace out the door and into the hallway. His next class period was Health and Coach Allen wasn't there today, so he had a more or less free period where his class would stay at the Computer Lab and he could do something interesting for once. He walked to his locker, thankfully on the top row, and spun the combination. He popped it open and tossed his Math book in on top of the rest of his books and slammed the door shut.

Gaara headed down the stairs towards the Computer Lab, walking by Kankuro on his way down and getting a small wave which was returned along with a bored "Mnh." Gaara walked into the Lab and settled himself at what was reserved as 'his' computer whenever one of his classes was in the Lab. It was one of the faster computers in the room, with less loading time, _and_ it was in a corner of the room that nobody could see his screen unless they came around and walked up directly behind him. But they wouldn't get that far with Gaara's acid gaze burning holes into them.

He logged in under his school ID and popped up MSN and a web window or two, selecting where he wanted to go as he did so. He decided on checking out a few forums for his favorite bands and a couple of picture searches for weird and amusing things. Next, he signed in on MSN and a chatroom and watched his screen fill up with other people's conversations.

SuicideIsPainless has logged in.

NihilistCountess: who the hell is Suicideispainless? i keep seein em' who are you?

NightDreamer: How the hell should I know? He never replies. waiting for SuicideIsPainless to reply

NihilistCountess: ….he ain't gonna he don't like us I can tell….

SuicideIsPainless: How do you know that?

NihilistCountess: it speaks!

NightDreamer: o.O

RichieRich: No shit?

SuicideIsPainless: ….

TRUTH or DARE: thas jus whac

The Hailee: Gettin' sum head, gettin' gettin' sum head

The Hailee: Wait did that dude just say something?

SuicideIsPainless: I can.

Lordo'thaPuppets: Hey, cool. Welcome to the chat.

SuicideIsPainless: Thanks.

Lordo'thaPuppets: No problem. Where do you go to school at?

SuicideIsPainless:D

Lordo'thaPuppets?

SuicideIsPainless: Closer than you think, Kankuro.

The Hailee: Kankuro!

NihilistCountess: wow he actually talks on the web like a normal person…

NightDreamer: No shit. He's sitting three chairs down from me. Shit. He just waved.

NightDreamer: You just waved.

Lordo'thaPuppets: No shit, Sherlocke.

Lordo'thaPuppets: SuicideIsPainless….

SuicideIsPainless: What?

Lordo'thaPuppets: Is that you, Gaara?

SuicideIsPainless: Yes.

NightDreamer: o.O

NihilistCountess: CoooooooooooooooooooooooooooL!

The Hailee has logged off.

RichieRich: ….Who is Gaara? I'm from Wave High…

TRUTH or DARE: im from konoha…i don't know you…

NihilistCountess: now that youre actually speaking can i have an autograph?

SuicideIsPainless: An autograph? Why?

NihilistCountess: youre so cool an all that

SuicideIsPainless: Where are you?

NihilistCountess: at computer # 13 and the bells about to ring

NihilistCountess has logged off.

Lordo'thaPuppets has logged off.

NightDreamer has logged off.

SuicideIsPainless has logged off.

Gaara signed out of the chatroom and logged off of the computer. He glanded over at Station Thirteen and saw one of those touch-me-I'll-kill-you type of girls rustling around in her book bag for something. She pulled it out so that he could see it was a scrap book which she flipped to an empty page and grabbed a red pen and headed over to his station. Gaara glared at her, but she kept right on walking right up to him and held the book out to him.

"You promised. Or, well, actually you didn't, but you implied you would." She grinned at him and shoved the pen at him. Gaara grimaced at her. Great. His very own fan girl. And as if she could read it on his face, "And I'm not a fan girl. I just want a signature." Sighing, Gaara took the pen with a look of distaste and signed a big 'Sabaku no Gaara' across the page and made it look like blood was dripping from his name.

"See. That was all I wanted." Gaara only glared at her. "Alright, alright! I'll go." With that, she walked off just as the bell rang. Gaara picked up his own book bag and headed out the door to go to his Fourth Period class, Biology with Mr. Cozby. As long as he did his work and didn't piss off the teacher, he'd be alright. One bad thing. This was also a class he shared with Hailee. There was no knowing what might happen.

He walked in and sat at his customary desk at the back. A moment later all the rest of the students poured in and made themselves comfortable. Hailee glanced at him and that was all. Piping up from the desk in front of him was a big time prep as she turned to look at him. "Why are you always here so early?" Gaara sent her dagger glares, but she was oblivious. "Well? Answer me!"

"Because I hate you." Were the silver moonlight words that Shukaku pushed forth from between his lips. "You're so fucking dumb. Why the fuck can't you just die like you deserve to. I can help…" His voice was meshed with that of Shukaku's and it came out as the dry rustle of desert sand shifting with the wind. The girl pulled away from him and complained to the teacher at the front of the room.

"Coach _Cozby_! He _cussed_ at me and told me he wants me to _die_! He's so _creepy_, sir! Do I _have_ to sit by _him_?" She wailed, earning his teachers wrath. Great. Just great. Shukaku was screaming now. The girl's wailing had struck a nerve. As the teacher reprimanded him, and not softly, a tic developed first in one eye, then the other before it spread down to form into the crazed grin that was Shukaku's trademark gaze. His eyes grew wide and bloodshot and Shukaku whispered poison in his ear.

_She started it. Kill her. She wants to die…Look at him…Look at him challenge us…will you take that? Will you let him command us? Let me have him…mine…mine…I want it…the blood…dripping…over our hands…remember…the feel…of being sated…take what is yours to take…the blood…_

The whispered poison eroded his self control. For a moment, just a moment, he _became_ Shukaku. But it was enough. Such a small moment, yet enough to deck the bigger, stronger man that was Coach Cozby and send him unconscious to the floor. Enough to have him reaching out for the girl when he came back to himself with Shukaku pawing and tearing to get out. He used what little control he had to yank himself away, grab his book bag and run out the door, the shocked silence of the room behind him erupting into a frantic babble. He had let Shukaku have control for only a moment, but the amount of time had seemed forever. How could he get out of this one? He had never attacked a teacher, never even actually attacked a student, really. Now he had done both. And to a teacher he actually kind of liked as far as teachers go. If he was lucky, he'd go to Juvenile Suspension. Most likely, though, best not to think of most likely.

Gaara ran down the halls and out of the school building entirely, heading out into the middle of the street and running along it until he lost the power to run anymore. He collapsed in a grassy area beneath a tree and laid there with his vision blurring. The last thing he remembered was thinking of what would happen to him now.

--

No, I don't hate any of the people in this story. I actually think the teacher is a great teacher, and he's really really fun. I just needed something that Gaara could do and get in trouble for. POOR GAARA! My poor baby! I'm so damned mean! But don't worry...(twidles fingers and draws circles with foot) Gaara is going to be really happy later on...

Please review!


	3. Raven Locks

Summary: Basically, this is an AU highschool fic. Suna High, is modeled off of my own smalltown High School and Temari goes to college over in 'Konoha' which is based on a college in a big town fifty miles away from me that everybody goes to when they want to go anywhere.

Gaara has had an interesting day at school that leaves him stranded and wondering 'What now?'. Now he just needs an answer.

A/N: I can feel the Yaoi approaching...just so many chapters ahead! I wish I could throw the plot away and just toss Gaara into a fagfest. Butt rubbing and spit swapping and total Yaoi mayhem.

Side note: If you don't like Yaoi, I'd suggest you don't read past Chapter Eight. I plan on putting men in bed, if and or other places, with other men later on in this story. I've only written 1 story that is not Yaoi. The other five or so are all Yaoi. There will always be Yaoi. You can count on it.

Disclaimer: If you think that I own Naruto, you have need of visiting a local and over-rated psychiatrist. I have, however, owned Gaara, Orochimaru, Kimimaru, and Sasuke (along with Itachi and all of them at the same time!) in my dreams. I do own two boys that will show up next chapter. They just don't know it yet. It'll be big news for them when they find out. They're so hott...and brothers to boot! Only a year apart and they're like twins. I own them. They are a very nice pairing.

(insert drumroll here)

Raven Locks

Kankuro waved at the tall girl he only knew as NightDreamer again as he passed her in the hall on the way to Anatomy class. She waved back and hurried off down the hall towards her next classroom, long hair swaying behind her and a guilty giggle like laugh the only sign that she had ever been there as she melded into the rest of the crowd. Kankuro regarded her in his mind for a moment before turning into Mrs. Long's class. She was actually kind of cute.

He rubbed a bit at his pointy-eared hat and walked over to sit in his assigned seat near the 'back' of the lab turned classroom. This was one of his favored classes, mostly because of the array of interesting things that they could dissect. Today, they were dissecting something that the teacher hadn't told them exactly what it was except 'big and messy'. Totally dissectible by Kankuro's standards. This was promising to be a good day.

Other students began to file into the class and settle themselves into their own seats, making it seem as if the room were an anthill in a flurry of disturbance. The teacher entered the room just as the bell rang and closed the door with an air of finality as the last student rushed to enter before it closed.

"Class, today we are dissecting a calf. Anyone who blanched or was squeamish when we dissected the fetal pig, sheep's eye, kitten and/or puppy should busy themselves with bookwork. No, we are not making hamburgers." Some of the students laughed. "If you still wish to continue, get ready and report to the teacher parking lot." With that, she went to the back of the room, grabbed a bag full of lab aprons and dissecting utensils and headed outside.

Several of the students began to open their books, but Kankuro wasn't one of them. He was already grabbing a pair of gloves and some 'goggles', which were actually tie-dyed glasses with big lenses, and heading for the door just as the intercom crackled into life along with a faint dimming of the lights.

"Mrs. Long, can you send Kankuro to the office? Immediately." Kankuro threw down his equipment with a curse and headed for the office. It had to be something with Gaara. And anything that dealt with Gaara and needing him in the office couldn't be good.

Kankuro ran down the long and mostly deserted hallway, the few bystanders gawking as he flew by. He reached the end of the hall and spun to the left, barely avoiding crashing into a blonde girl in a paint splotched jacket who was obviously skipping. She stood stunned for a moment as he made tracks into the office before applying her face to the window.

"What happened!" Kankuro shouted the moment his head was past the door frame. "What the fuck do you need me for?" The teachers in the office all stared at him with unblinking eyes. It was like he were some dead frog they were dissecting with their eyes. It creeped him out, until he realized it had all been in his mind and they were only staring at him with grim expressions. Faces were always grim when Gaara was concerned.

Mrs. Frogga spoke up finally, pointing towards the nurses office. "Your brother decked Cozby." Kankuro leaned so that he could look into the small room, and sure enough, there was Coach Cozby sitting with a bag of ice held to his jaw and his head.

"Hi." stated the older man in a gruff tone. "I think we need to do something about your brother."

Kankuro gulped with a grimace and turned to look back at the other teachers. They were all looking at him, and he knew why. Only he or Temari could find Gaara after this, or even know the possible consequences of any punishment that Gaara would receive for this latest spectacle that had finally broken the camel's back.. He nodded, knowing what his part in this would be.

"I'll go find him. Then we can figure out what to do next."

Gaara awakened in the park, laying on the sparse grass under the great oak tree beneath which he had fallen. Several people were standing around and staring at the now awake boy that had dropped into their midst. Gaara stared back at them, just as confused as they were. But for only a moment. His mind finally caught up with his confused thoughts and explained the reason for his current location to him. He jumped up and caught himself on the tree as he swooned from the sudden loss of blood from his head. Blinking dazedly and shaking his ruby locks, Gaara stumbled away from his spectators, shooting an irritated glare at them as soon as he had recovered enough to do so. He was drained from his flight and was feeling the effects with every step he took. It was a struggle to keep himself oriented on the path he was following and keep his body moving along it. Gaara followed the path up to one of the picnic tables and collapsed heavily upon one of its benches. He rolled his head back and closed his eyes and just lay there for several moments, thoughts racing through his head at an alarming rate.

Since his defection, Shukaku had not come out to play again and was peacefully absent in his head. This might be some call for celebration, excepting as for how that small bit of respite had been gained. With his head Shukaku-less and resting on the tabletop, Gaara was able to think a touch more clearly, and he began plotting on what he could do to get out of this mess. He was unable to come up with any reasonable ideas by the time Kankuro finally found him there as the sun was hanging perilously close to the horizon, his arms crossed over his chest and his head propped up on the table with his eyes staring blankly at the darkening sky above.

Kankuro slowly paced towards his little brother, unsure of what to say. He stopped in front of him and stood there uneasily, the awkward silence building until Gaara broke it with a sigh and pulled his eyes away from the dim sky. Both of them looked down at the ground or their feet or anywhere but the other.

"I really screwed up this time." Gaara murmured, glancing up at his brother before going on, confessing for the first time. "I didn't mean to. Not really. I just  " He paused. "I couldn't keep it from happening. I can't stop it. It just happens and I can't stop it." He stared hopelessly up at his brother, letting some of the hidden emotions swirling inside show on his face. A single, glistening tear wet his lashes before he shut his eyes despairingly. His voice came blandly a few moments later, more of a confirmation than a question. "I really screwed up, didn't I?"

"Maybe not so bad." Kankuro murmured. "I'm not sure what we're going to do, but I know there's something. And if you couldn't stop it, then you can't stop it. It's not your fault." He looked about uncomfortably for a moment before going to sit down beside his little brother. "I'll make things okay, even if we have to send you to another school."

Gaara turned his head to look at him. A new school? A chance to start over, a chance to live, really live again, the possibility of it all. A touch of hope began to shine in his eyes. "Can we? I mean  Can we do that? Another school?" He waited for the answer. Kankuro thought for a minute. Then he nodded.

"I'll make it happen, if that's what you want." said the older boy. "I'll make it happen."

Gaara's lips twitched ever so slightly, a hint of a smile gracing his usually stoic features. "I would like that." His ruby locks shifted to cover the kanji tattooed on his fore head, just as a raven alighted in the tree above them. "I would really like that." The dark bird cawed ominously as it flew into the night. A last dark whisper floated through the air in its wake. "I would really, really like that…"

--

Ok, so, now it's getting interesting...Gaara + new school ? Even I don't have more than a basic concept. And can you guess who I am yet? Or who my best friend is? Now, I get to create a floorplan for a new school...And...well...shit. I'm not going to say it. I was, but then I decided that I can just stick it in one of the next few chapters.


	4. New Endings, New Beginnings

Summary: Basically, this is an AU highschool fic. Suna High, is modeled off of my own smalltown High School and Temari goes to college over in 'Konoha' which is based on a college in a big town fifty miles away from me that everybody goes to when they want to go anywhere.

Gaara has had an interesting day at school that leaves him stranded and wondering 'What now?'. Well, he's going to go to another school. Konoha to be exact.

A/N: I can feel the Yaoi approaching...just so many chapters ahead! I wish I could throw the plot away and just toss Gaara into a fagfest. Butt rubbing and spit swapping and total Yaoi mayhem. Just like an Only Flesh concert...

Side note: If you don't like Yaoi, I'd suggest you don't read past Chapter Eight. I plan on putting men in bed, if and or other places, with other men later on in this story. I've only written 1 story that is not Yaoi (except that Josh is gay, but only I know that). The other five or so are all Yaoi. There will always be Yaoi. You can count on it.

Disclaimer: If you think that I own Naruto, you have need of visiting a local and over-rated psychiatrist. I have, however, owned Gaara, Orochimaru, Kimimaru, and Sasuke (along with Itachi and all of them at the same time!) in my dreams. They were all over me and each other... I do own two boys that will show up **next **chapter (I said that last time, but I forgot to put them in...). They just don't know it yet. It'll be big news for them when they find out. They're so hott...and brothers to boot! Only a year apart and they're like twins. I own them. They are unaware of it.

Ladies and Gentlemen! Prepare your eyes for a feast of all that your eyes can see!

New Endings, New Beginnings

Gaara walked along the moon bleached sidewalk and up to the house that he shared with his brother and sister. He had opted to walk home, rather than upset schedules anymore than they already were. Kankuro had to go back to school and do whatever. Temari was either there, or at home waiting for him.

Gaara walked in and shifted his binder in his grasp to shut the door silently behind himself. The house was mostly dark, except for a faint light radiating from under the door of the kitchen that meant that Temari was, indeed, home. He walked over to the couch and laid down on the marbled cushions. The door to the kitchen creaked open a little and he could sense Temari's eyes watching him from the crack of light.

Gaara ignored her and glared out the window at the darkness that had settled over Suna. Pale stars sparkled against the heavens as the full moon cast her milky glow over the windswept dunes. The night sky soothed Gaara's aching eyes and he closed them against the beauty of the nighttime world, wishing that there were some way that things could become better.

At that moment, the sweet silence was shattered into tinkling shards as the phone began to ring from beside Gaara. Gaara ignored it as best he could, but Temari entered the living room and placed the receiver to her ear. She listened for a moment before nodding and pressing the button. She stood there for a minute, silently looking from the phone to Gaara and back again before she set it on it's base with a click.

Temari came around and sat on the edge of the couch beside Gaara. "Kankuro pulled your records and signed you out of school." Her voice seemed unsure, not knowing of his and Kankuro's plans. Gaara nodded and Temari continued. "He  he wants to know where you want to go next."

Gaara thought for a moment, his closed eyes narrowing in concentration. He thought back to his IM conversation with students from other schools. He decided, then spoke his thoughts out loud. "Konoha." Temari nodded, taking his decision in stride and rose.

"I can make some dinner, or we can watch a movie and have popcorn." she said. Gaara opened his eyes and stared at her for a moment before getting up an looking at the stacked DVDs they had gotten yesterday. He chose The Cave and put it in the VCR as Temari went into the kitchen to go pop some popcorn.

They settled on the couch in silence, waiting for the movie to begin as the first pops were heard.

Kankuro sat at the counter of a local restaurant and waited for his order of chili cheese fries to be served to him. He had stopped by on his walk home from school when he had noticed his stomach rumbling from a missed lunch. He had ordered some chili cheese fries and sat down to recount the day's events.

A lanky boy sat a plate in front of him and asked if that was all he needed. Kankuro nodded and began ingesting fries. He had only eaten a rather modest handful when he felt somebody's shadow over him. He looked up and his eyes widened noticeably as the long haired girl and the girl he had almost run into at school sat next to him on either side. 'NightDreamer' blushed and grinned at him and turned her head to the side as he continued to stare. The other girl perked up and grinned then.

"Stephanie likes Kankuro! I knew it! I just knew it!" She piped, straightening up and pointing at the taller girl.

"I do not!" Shouted Stephanie loudly in indignation, betrayed by her hotly burning cheeks. Kankuro stared for a moment more before turning back to his plate of rapidly cooling chili cheese fries. He had only managed to eat a single one, before being assaulted by 'NightDreamer' AKA Stephanie. She had wrapped her arms around him and was squeezing him tightly enough to cause any lesser man to explode. Kankuro groaned inwardly and tried to pull free. The blonde girl noticed and looked at her friend.

"Stephanie, I think you need to let go. You're killing him!" She laughed and pushed at her friend who finally released the fuming Kankuro. "What a way to show somebody you like them!" She commented after Kankuro had growled at her tall friend.

Kankuro was stumped, but outwardly, all he showed was a grimace. Not too many girls would just walk up to him and hug him. He wasn't used to it, and the reason why was because nobody ever hugged him. His surly attitude was all that was needed to discourage most, and a little effort could be expended to detour the more resolved ones. But for some reason, he didn't really feel like putting up the struggle to make these two go away.

Instead, he single-mindedly focused himself to his plate of fries and polished them off. His stomach grumbled and he sighed, knowing that one plate wasn't going to fuel him enough to make it home. He raised a hand and the lanky waiter returned, waiting for his order. Kankuro studied the menu hanging above the registrar and back at the two girls who stared at him expectantly. He sighed again and they grinned, knowing they had won.

"Three plates of chili cheese fries and sodas to go around." He ordered, overpowered. The waited nodded and left to fulfill his order as the girls began to thank him for being so kind. Kankuro groaned and put his forehead on the counter. _Just what have I gotten myself into now, _he thought. He laid there for about a minute before plates clunked down all around him and he sat up. Kankuro chowed down on his favorite food as the girls got their sodas filled at the self-dispense machine. He finished his fries in record time just as Stephanie and her friend sat down again.

"Now I know you just can't walk home, I mean were the only customer car in the parking lot, so unless you own this place, we're taking you home." Stephanie commanded. Kankuro just stared for the thousandth time that night and tried to come up with a tough guy retort. Nothing came to mind and he ended up with a girl pulling him by each arm. Not even gathering the will to fight them off, he merely sighed and grabbed his empty soda cup and the bill. He fished out enough money for the food and a tip and left it on the counter as they steered him towards the soft drink machine. He filled up and let them drag him out the door, taking an odd pleasure in the way Stephanie's hands were wrapped around his wrists, never mind the girl pushing from behind. They dumped him in the middle of the cramped seat of an El Camino and crowded in on either side, Stephanie behind the wheel.

"Alright Mr. Tough Guy, where to?" she asked. "Or else I'll have Heather tie you up and help me throw you in back and we'll go back to my place." Kankuro regarded her predatory grin and had drifting thoughts of how women weren't the only ones who got raped, and finally told her his address.

The small car pulled up outside the house of Sabaku, and Heather got out so that Kankuro could, too. She got back in after he had exited and Stephanie shouted at him.

"Hey, Kankuro! Can't you just wait to see me at school tomorrow?" She and her friend laughed as he flicked her off and walked inside. A door slammed and laughter could be heard as an El Camino pulled away from the curb of a deserted midnight street on the outskirts of a town called Sunagakure. Meanwhile, stars and the full moon twinkled down on the land below as a family of three watched a movie in silence only broken by the crunching of popcorn.

Many things had happened on that day in Suna to make it an unpleasant one, but hope shone with the stars that night and one could only wait till morning to see what new beginnings fate had cast them. And a warm wind swept the desert sand around and around as the family of three sat in refuge beneath the house of Blood as lights flickered off one by one in waiting for the new day.


	5. Dude, Who Are You?

Summary: Basically, this is an AU highschool fic. Suna High is modeled off of my own smalltown High School and Temari goes to college over in 'Konoha' which is based on a college in a big town fifty miles away from me that everybody goes to when they want to go anywhere.

Gaara had an interesting day at school a few days ago that leaves him open to change. Well, he's going to go to another school now. Konoha to be exact. Now, how will his day go?

A/N: I can feel the Yaoi approaching...just so many chapters ahead! I wish I could throw the plot away and just toss Gaara into a fagfest. Butt rubbing and spit swapping and total Yaoi mayhem. Just like an Only Flesh concert...or my _other_ story...the one that only members of TPC can read.

Side note: If you don't like Yaoi, I'd suggest you don't read past Chapter Eight. I plan on putting men in bed, if and or other places, with other men later on in this story. I've only written 1 story that is not Yaoi (except that Josh is gay, but only I know that). The other five or so are all Yaoi. There will always be Yaoi. You can count on it.

Disclaimer: If you think that I own Naruto, you have need of visiting a local and over-rated psychiatrist. I have, however, owned Gaara, Orochimaru, Kimimaru, and Sasuke (along with Itachi, and all of them at the same time!) in my dreams. They were all over me and each other... I do own two boys that will show up **next **chapter (I said that last time, but I forgot to put them in...). They just don't know it yet. It'll be big news for them when they find out. Leroj and Elleoj are so hott...and brothers to boot! Only a year apart and they're like twins. I own them. They are unaware of it.

1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...(picture old films on a projector)

Dude, Who Are You?

Gaara awoke to the jolly chirping of birds and the smell of frying bacon. He pulled himself from his mussed bed and listened for a moment to ensure that it was him, and only him, that was in his head. Assured that Shukaku was not lurking in the corridors of his mind, Gaara made his way into the kitchen and sat at the table beside the pondering Kankuro who was inhaling his waffles with a studious expression. It was three days after his defection, and now, he had to go to his new school. He didn't know anybody, and he wouldn't even have Kankuro there if something happened. A risk he was willing to take if he could start over again without all the hindrances that had opposed him until now.

Ready to start the new day, Gaara began to eat a stack of waffles more modest than Kankuro's at a more sedate pace than the older boy. How Kankuro could inhale such whopping amounts of food and stay trim was unknown to Temari and Gaara both. Much less how he could have any energy left while digesting it.

But the mystery that was Kankuro's astounding secrets of leanness were set aside until a later date as Gaara finished his meal. He pushed his chair back and began to help Temari clear the table while Kankuro stuffed the last bite of waffle into his mouth and handed his plate to his little brother. Having cleaned up the table and set all the dishes in the dishwasher, the three grabbed their stuff and headed out the door. They piled into the hearse, Kankuro driving, and set out for their first stop, Suna High.

They had left early so that Gaara could get to his new school on time, and therefore, Kankuro had an extra half hour or so to kill. He left the driving to Temari as he stepped out of his vehicle and headed to the rather barren school grounds. He decided to sit down on one of the top steps in front of the school to watch the slow motion process of weary students dragging themselves towards the school building.

It was actually an interesting process, much like the forest awakening at dawn, although a hell of a lot less majestic. Kankuro had been paying some large amount of interest to two dusky brothers who were play fighting for a group of their friends when a shadow stole up on him, reminding him greatly of the restaurant incident. He didn't bother looking up as Stephanie's voice spoke in his ear.

"What are you watching, Kankuro?" she asked interestedly. Kankuro pointed down at the two boys and Stephanie looked over, a strange light entering her eyes. At that moment, Kankuro realized that several of her friends were also standing behind him because of the immediate response his pointing finger caused in them. They had all leaned forward to watch all the better and two of them had hands over their mouths as they squealed and turned red. Stephanie was the only one not so dazed, but she was still a touch flustered.

She leaned closer to him and whispered in his ear. "Leroj and Elleoj are hot, but you're hotter, Kankuro." Kankuro leaned away and gave her an odd look as if to say 'why doesn't she leave me alone? Go away already!'. Unfortunately, it didn't seem that she could read minds or had noticed his action, because she went right on ahead and wrapped her arms around his shoulders in a tight embrace. Kankuro's eyes widened in shock as he just sat there and let himself be hugged. His reaction was a severely delayed "Get the fuck off me!" that didn't really have any anger in it. It was more like a strangled yelp. He got up and rushed inside, leaving the five girls laughing behind him.

_What the fuck! What the _fuck_ was that? _he growled inwardly. But then again, it hadn't felt _that_ bad, now had it?

A sleek black hearse pulled into the student parking lot and parked in the gray shadow of the large school building. Students that were in the vicinity all looked up from what they were doing to watch it glide by. Their eyes followed it and locked on the first figure that got out. It was a tall blonde girl with four ponytails and a serious glint in her eye. She turned and looked through her open door at something in the passenger seat.

"Well, are you going to get out, or am I just wasting my time?" she demanded of the as yet unseen other person. That or she was talking to an inanimate object. The second prospect was dashed as the other door slowly opened.

An undersized, flame-haired boy stepped out with a grunt and surveyed everything around him with a brisk glance. He folded his arms in front of his chest as he kicked the hearse door shut with a well placed boot. The girl glared at him for it, but he was unfazed. She closed her own door and began to walk briskly towards the school building, the scrawny boy following more slowly. They walked up the five small steps and passed through the huge glass doors and into the side door at the office.

As they disappeared from sight, all the students outside turned back to whatever it was that they had been doing, but not without a touch of curiosity about the strange pair that had paraded in their midst.

Gaara slumped in a chair in his new principal's office and stared at the woman on the other side of the desk. She was blonde, huge breasted, and most likely inebriated to some degree or another. The woman was too busy talking to Temari about him to actually talk to him, so he just ignored her and looked around the small room. The well endowed woman finally gave Temari some papers and dismissed them from her office a few moments later.

Temari walked Gaara out the door and handed him some of the papers. The first one was his schedule:

1st - Art II/H.Kakashi/104

2nd - P.E./M.Gai/Gym

3rd - English II/Jiraiya/211

4th - History/Iruka/108

5th - Geometry/Hayate/228

6th - Lunch/Cafeteria

7th - Study Hall/Genma\Raidou/106

8th - Biology/Orochimaru/214

The rest was just a basic rule sheet and a few other assorted things. Gaara stuffed all his papers but the schedule into his ragged binder and set to finding his classes and locker. Temari left after insuring that he wasn't having any problems. Gaara walked down the hall in search of locker 565. After about three minutes, he found it situated towards the end of a long hall in the science section. He spun his combination: three left to 11, two-right to 43, one-left to 39. He pulled up on the latch and it opened easily on his first try. Satisfied, he examined the ruins of the last occupants personalization. A torn sticker or two proclaimed the names of emo bands. Gaara grabbed a few of his own stickers from his binder and peeled the backings. He smoothed them over the other stickers and leaned back to admire his work. Cradle of Filth and other bands stickers screamed against the gray locker walls and a permanent marker touched up a few of the empty spots, creating a _much_ more 'Gaara' environment.

Gaara slammed the door and stood up to go in search of his first classroom. He checked his schedule again. He had Art first period, so he walked down the hall and turned left, following the decreasing room numbers until he found 104. He pulled open the wooden door and was greeted by an entirely empty classroom, devoid of any furnishings except a single table in the back covered in all sorts of oddments and a desk at the front. There were also twenty or so mismatched desks _stacked _along the wall, an impossible feat that could topple at almost any moment from its precarious position. By the thickness of the dust, nobody had been in the room to clean or get ready for students.

Gaara was prepared to leave right then and there, but a tall, gray-haired man with a half-mask over his face walked in holding an orange book that literally _screamed_ pervert. The man looked up at him and then around the classroom before shrugging sheepishly.

"Well, grab a desk and start decorating, why don't you? I'll be back in a few." With that, the man turned on his heel and walked out just as carelessly as he had walked in. Gaara looked at his retreating back and then at the pile of desks along the wall. _This is my Art class? He's got to be kidding! Wait…decorate?_ Gaara pondered silently for a moment before a light smile played on one side of his mouth. _Decorate he says? Then decorate I will._

Gaara began carefully taking desks off the pile until he came to a solid black one and stuck it in the darkest corner, then he went to the table and sorted through the stuff there, looking for things he could use. He finally ended up with twenty different and same colored cans of spray paint, a few rolls of electricians tape, a strip or two of white cloth, a few paint brushes and paints, a palette, and a canister of pink glitter. Pleased, he stepped away from the table and went to the biggest wall. Glancing at the clock, he realized that he had at least twenty minutes before the first bell would ring. Grinning, he began to shake the first can.

A short while after the bell rang, students began to walk into the new Art room, expecting as usual that Kakashi-sensei had not bothered to set things up after they had destroyed their second class room that year. They were oddly surprised to find all the desks set out in a random pattern across the class room and the overwhelming stench of spray paint fumes being slowly dispersed by the air coming in the huge side window. Every thing was still rather dusty, as could be attested to by the hanging cobwebs in all the corners, but there was one thing that stood out as _new_.

The far wall had been entirely spray painted in shimmering metallic black with pink glitter and metallic blue paint flecks all over it in a galaxy spiral. There were numerous coin-sized iridescent orbs that resembled stars and a sun in the center with their planet circling it all alone. The planet was crumbling and rotting with great decomposed-looking patches and the kanji of humanity smeared across its collapsing façade. The earth radiated a sickly red and yellow glow. It was an exquisite work of art, despite its grave message. Signed in the corner as a sandy gust of dust through space was the name Sabaku no Gaara.

Everybody' eyes shifted to the redhead sleeping in the corner desk as they got over their awe of the piece. Some few recognized him as the boy who had strolled through the student parking lot as if there was somewhere else he'd rather be. They regarded him now, in his long-sleeved black undershirt and the red Tee over it and his closefitting leather pants and knee-high black boots with their platform bottoms. They saw his ragged fingerless fishnet gloves that laced up at the top of his wrist and his shock of softly-spiked blood red hair that went in any and every direction.

Their wondering was silenced as the tardy bell rang and they chose their seats and sat down. Now it was just the waiting…

Gaara sat quietly amused in his seat, the other students peering at him. He didn't move and was breathing regularly enough to convince them that he was asleep, when indeed he was most definitely not. In fact, he was examining them as much as they were him. He had the time to give them a full out analysis without them even knowing it.

First, there was the silent boy with long, dark hair tied back loosely and strange, white eyes. He sat up straight and had an air of dignity. His face was frozen into an unimpressionable expression that Gaara new well. It was a mask. But this boy wasn't the only masked one.

There was the other boy, there, in a seat not to far from his who had raven black hair and eyes just as black. But a faint hint of what was behind his mask showed in his eyes; the shine of determination, the flat planes of pain and suffering, and then the unmistakable coldness of being alone. This was another one that Gaara knew well, although the other did not know it.

There were other people in this class. Normal people. People who lived normal lives with normal problems. There was the shy girl, so unsure with eyes as light and white as those of the first boy. There was the loud, raucous boy who couldn't seem to hold himself still for more than a scant moment; shouting at his friend only a seat away. His face rather wolfish and playful.

Also the obese boy that he was talking to, along with a silent watcher. But his time for analyzing his fellow classmates was up as their teacher arrived twenty minutes late. It was the gray-haired man from before. He held up a hand to his ear and let a sheepish expression cross the visible portion of his face.

"Yo. The coffee machine broke so I had to run to the store and get a new one, but…" he began, but stopped at the students reactions. Many of the dozen pupils rolled their eyes and exclaimed about his lies, so he gave up and sat in his desk. That was when he noticed Gaara's artwork. He stared a moment before grabbing his attendance sheet.

"Gaara. You did that?" Kakashi-sensei asked after looking up Gaara's name. Gaara sat up. The wolf boy turned to look at him.

"Dude, who are you?" he asked. "I'm Kiba."

**Just a note**, I don't get any reviews for this. :'( I'm getting to the point of possibly accepting flames. Review me, flame me, I don't care. I do this so others can read and enjoy/criticize my work. Don't just let it rot...


	6. Open Your Eyes

Summary: Basically, this is an AU highschool fic. Suna High is modeled off of my own smalltown High School and Temari goes to college over in 'Konoha' which is based on a college in a big town fifty miles away from me that everybody goes to when they want to go anywhere.

Gaara had an interesting day at school a few days ago that leaves him open to change. Well, he's half way through his class of his first day at Konoha High. How will it go?

A/N: SCREW IT! I had to put a little guy on guy action in here. But not involving Gaara at all. But suggestive of sex...

Side note: If you don't like Yaoi, I'd suggest you don't read anymore. I've got two hot brothers making out in this one. I plan on putting men in bed, if and or other places, with other men later on in this story. I've only written 1 story that is not Yaoi (except that Josh is gay, but only I know that). The other five or so are all Yaoi. There will always be Yaoi. You can count on it.

Disclaimer: If you think that I own Naruto, you have need of visiting a local and over-rated psychiatrist. I have, however, owned Gaara, Orochimaru, Kimimaru, and Sasuke (along with Itachi, and all of them at the same time!) in my dreams. They were all over me and each other... I do own two boys that will show up **next **chapter (I said that last time, but I forgot to put them in...) WELL, HERE THEY ARE!

(introduces Leroj and Elleoj.

Elleoj: Hn...

Leroj: oh, Hi! I love Haku! I love Haku! Hey, what is Haku?

Me: You say 'Who is Haku?'...

Leroj: Who is Haku?

Me: Haku is a boy that is smexy.

Leroj: ...I don't know if I love Haku anymore...)

They just don't know it yet. It'll be big news for them when they find out. Leroj and Elleoj are so hott...and brothers to boot! Only a year apart and they're like twins. I own them. They are unaware of it. (They go to my real school, too. I love it when they get all over each other in class.)

Listen to Cradle of Filth for an idea of whatever. It's what I was listening to when I wrote this. That or Rammstein. Its a mixed play list between the two :)

Movie commercials start now...

Open Your Eyes

Gaara stared quietly at the cheekily grinning Kiba. His face was unemotional and smooth even after having come face to face with one of Kiba's contagious grins. The expression on the wolf boy's face faltered and the room broke into a hushed silence. Gaara looked him straight in the eye and replied in a monotonic voice.

"I am Sabaku no Gaara." The silence trailed on, broken only by the sound of shifting bodies in aged desks. The white-eyed boy and the raven-haired one were the only ones who showed no traces of discomfort with the penetrating silence. And yet, it was broken as fast as it had become.

"Now, now, Gaara. We don't need any hard feelings started on your first day here." Kakashi stated. "And I'm going to give you an A+ on that bit of work right there." He pointed his chin at the far wall and put down his book. "It's an absolutely amazing piece. What inspired you?" he asked with a raised brow.

Gaara regarded him quietly. This was supposed to be his new beginning. Maybe he could try to be a little more amiable. He closed his eyes and thought about it for a moment, his face taking on hints of his new mood. "People like me, people like you. All the things we do to ourselves, each other, and everything else."

Kakashi nodded agreeably. "The kanji itself is composed to look like it was written in blood. It's smeared and rotting." he noted. "Is it supposed to be your blood?'

Gaara looked at him for a moment with a guarded gaze. "Mine and yours and everybody else's." he replied. "Blood is blood. The only difference is in how it is shed and what traits and punishments it carries. Am I wrong?" He glanced to the side to study the other students. Kiba was gaping at him like a fish out of water, and he had captured the attention of the white-eyed and the raven-haired. Their eyes regarded him with a calm solemnity that showed their agreement. Another sign that they were very alike.

The teacher interrupted his reverie then, directing the students to introduce themselves to him. This immediately caused Kiba's composure to revive. He seemed to not mind Gaara's seeming touchiness. In fact, he decided to take things into his own hands and ran about the class telling him the who's who of the other students. Gaara listened, waiting impatiently for the other to calm down, which probably verged on the edge of impossible.

The shy girl was Hyuuga Hinata, the obese boy was introduced as Chouji, and his silent watcher was Aburame Shino. There was a Zaku, a Dosu and a Kin, along with a Tenten and a Nara Shikamaru who was amazingly fast asleep. Then there was the white-eyed boy, Hyuuga Neji, and the raven-haired one, Uchiha Sasuke. These two were particularly interesting to Gaara. By the time the bell rang, Kiba had just finished his flamboyant gestures at the others.

Gaara got up from his seat and headed for the hall. Now he had to find the gym for P.E. Not a class Gaara was looking forward to. Nevertheless, he made his way through the packed halls.

Kankuro was aimlessly wandering the empty halls for lack of better entertainment. He had skipped first and second period and was now bored because of it. His meandering footsteps had led him down, and he was walking through the basement level, when he heard muffled laughter emanating from the other side of the cast iron double doors that were the exit and entrance to the outside stairwell. Being Kankuro, he was a touch curious as to why whomever was laughing, and whom it was doing the laughing. He also wanted some alleviation of his current boredom. Therefore, Kankuro headed for the doors and walked through without further ado, turning quickly on his heel to discover who the miscreants were. His discovery? None other than Elleoj, Leroj, Stephanie, Heather, and friends.

They stared at him with wide eyes for all of fifteen seconds before bursting out into uncontrollable laughter. Kankuro's eyes narrowed and he glared, causing another eruption. After a short intermission, they were able to control themselves and stop laughing for the most part.

Meanwhile, Kankuro glared. Then his brow rose slowly as he saw something sitting in the corner. It wasn't just Elleoj and Leroj, it was Leroj in Elleoj's lap, arms wrapped around the older brother in obvious affection. But what made Kankuro's brow raise was the fact that Elleoj was passionately running his hands up and down under his brother's shirt and tweaking his nipples. That was what had his brow raised.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, for him, Stephanie took that moment to reach up from behind and grab the back of his shirt, pulling Kankuro down to sit by her. Before he could protest, she had wrapped her arms about him and was doing something similar to what the older brother was doing to the younger. He was about to complain and jump up, when the tall girl deftly tweaked both his nipples in an exciting and erotic way.

Kankuro's face blanked and Stephanie did it again, the reaction being a widening of his eyes and having Kankuro sway backwards slightly. Taking this as a good response, Stephanie performed the feat once again, only this time having scooted up right behind him and breathing on his neck. This caused a reaction that was much more definite.

Kankuro leaned back, right up against her, and arched his chest out just a little, gaining her delighted laughter.

"Does this mean that you're my new boyfriend? Hmm, Kankuro?" Stephanie asked huskily in his ear. Kankuro's eyes snapped open and glared at her, but it took only her to twist and rub his nipples once more to make his eyes close and his body to rise against her probing hands.

"Do you give in, Kankuro?" she asked as she kneaded the points of his chest. His answer was a nod as she began to take away her tormenting digits. "Good. Now, what are you going to do?" she asked him as she tweaked once more and let him go.

Kankuro sat up and rubbed at his nipples, a touch overwhelmed yet. After regaining his bearings, he began to wonder just what it was that had happened over the course of three days that had turned into _this. _Shaking his head slightly to see if that would nock more understanding into him, Kankuro watched Stephanie out of the corner of one eye, and the two brother's expressing their desire for each other by making out in the corner out of the other.

Unfortunately, no wisdom came to him from the things he saw, and he had to lower his head in defeat to fate or destiny. But it wasn't too bad, now that he thought about it. He rather liked her boldness, and she wasn't that bad looking of a woman. Rather beautiful, in fact. But there was one thing Kankuro couldn't have. Yeah, she could have some control over him, but he wouldn't let her have it all.

Kankuro leaned up against the wall and dragged her to sit on his knees. "How about we go to that Buckcherry concert tomorrow?" he asked. Little did he know that he wasn't going to be in much control of anything.

"Yeah. Let's go there." Stephanie answered, before egging on the two brothers who were starting to slowly become disrobed. "Live porn." she whispered as he closed his eyes against what was sure to take place. "Open your eyes. It gets good, and its nothing to be ashamed of if you like it. And I sure won't get angry. Its just brotherly love."

Kankuro found it a touch hard to ignore her logic, and began to watch with open eyes, soon leaning forward with the rest in earnest interest as the two brothers continued their display, oblivious to or uncaring of their spectators.

o.O I love those two...I need to draw them...Oh yeah, I started a Gaara fanart for this fic, although I'm not done. His face is wrong. Unfortunately, I don't have a deviant account, so I'll make do with posting a link to my VF account and put it as one of my pics.


	7. The Eventide of innocence Part 1

I'm trying to get rid of writers block, so I'm making this chapter a part 1 and 2 thing. I would like to thank my reviewers, and I'm gong to be putting a Q to all my readers at the end of this chap.

Disclaimer: Gaara, he who was created in the mind of Masashi Kishimoto and placed upon paper, he who became a living being to so many millions through the medium of paper, TV and the ever great item of the human imagination, is not mine in the sense of ownership. But in my imagination, he is more than a creature to be owned. He is something to be expounded upon, his every virtue tested and evolved by any who see fit to do so. I do not own Naruto. I donot own any of its characters. There are characters that I have either created or have transformed from real-life examples into this story. These characters are subject to my ownership.

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The Eventide of Innocence

Gaara stopped in front of the large double-doors and gathered himself before pushing forward. His small frame entered the gym only seconds before the bell gave toll to the passing period. Unfortunately, that didn't save him from being yanked forward to stand in front of the class by whom he presumed must be the teacher. The man was of a horrid state of mind, accompanied by black bowl cut hair and green jumpsuit to match.

Gaara pulled his offended arm out of the man's grasp with a snarl and turned to face his class. Not paying heed, Gai-sensei began to shout about the glories of having a new student. After a few minutes of this, he finally allowed Gaara to disappear within his student ranks. As he did so, Gaara recognized a few students. Both Neji and Sasuke, for one. Then there was that barely-awake-on-his-feet-thing oft referred to as Shikamaru and a few other seniors from his first period class. After that, he didn't recognize anybody.

But if Gaara thought Kiba was bad, his next encounter was something out of true nightmare. The gym doors slammed open beneath cataclysmic force, a single blur of shocking orange and blonde catching the eye as it flew through them. The blur came to a sudden halt beside him, revealing tanned skin and blue eyes that shone with a need to be _seen_. The orange-jacketed boy turned to him.

"HEY! YOU'RE NEW, AREN'T YOU!" the figure shouted from a distance of only two feet from Gaara's ear as it pointed at him. Much as he had chided himself not to, Gaara couldn't retain an amiable state long with that **annoyance** around. His head snapped around, his short bangs flying with the sudden movement, and his eyes narrowed into thin slits within their dark pools of kohl as his lips pulled back to reveal sharp teeth.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP BEFORE I KILL YOU!" Gaara snapped at the blonde. For the second time that day, an entire classroom was silenced. The echoing ring of Gaara's scream reverberated throughout the gymnasium and students stared, gaping. Even Gai-sensei had the sense to not interfere.

The blonde just stared for a long moment, uncomprehending, before asking in a slightly more sedate voice: "You're new, right?" he asked again.

Gaara stared at him, his already glaring eyes taking on a hint of disbelief. He had heard of dumb-blondes before, but this was taking it _way_ past the limit. "What does it look like…?" He rasped out in stretched and breathy voice, contemplating future death for the over-exuberant blonde.

"Geez! Okay, okay! I get the idea! I'm Uzumaki Naruto. Who're you?" Naruto asked, holding his arms forwards and flapping his hands about as if to fend Gaara off. Gaara gave him a angry glare, pointedly reminding himself over and over again that he was supposed to be _nice_.

"Sabaku no Gaara. And don't _ever_ do that again.", he finally grated out as he turned away and crossed his arms over his chest in a standoffish manner, clearly ignoring any further attempts at communication. Gai-sensei finally had the sense to speak up, letting the usual hubbub and murmuring regain its former volume, this time with odd looks cast the redhead's way.

"Umm…students, its - uh, time to get changed into your P.E. uniforms." He stated, his shakiness leaving after he got his mental 'feet' under him, so to speak. "Gaara, you don't have one yet, so you don't have to get dressed out. You have until next week to get one, then I'll be forced to start taking off grade points. What an _atrocity_ to our youth this grading system is!"

Gaara just ignored him and leaned up against the wall, waiting for the other students to come back out from the respective boys or girls locker rooms. It was about five minutes, when Neji came out and stood by him in a determined stance, Sasuke following shortly thereafter. The rest of the students trickled out in a more or less steady stream until all nineteen had exited into the gym. They stood about, waiting to be sent to their assigned spots for roll call and stretches.

Gai pointed out towards the center of the gym and all the students filed out to stand where they were supposed to, Gai assigning Gaara into a spot between Sasuke and Naruto. Unfortunately, the blonde was in front of him and seemed to have a habit of turning around to try to talk to him or Sasuke. This was nothing short of annoying, although after a few minutes, it had far surpassed that point. Even the ever stoic Uchiha had developed a twitch in his left eye. But then again, if you had somebody like Naruto asking you WHY exactly you wore Hanes boxers…Gaara completely understood just how far the blonde was stretching the others patience.

Fortunately, just then, they were commanded to begin their stretches. First it was hurdle stretches for ten seconds each, then it was fifteen crunches and ten push-ups. A suitable enough workout for lazy high school students. Then came the running. They ran five laps around the gym, then walked three, then ran another four and sprinted one before walking for a handful of minutes to get their breath back.

Gaara noticed that, although he had never really been athletic, he was one of the top runners. Surprising, to say the least. But then again, he hadn't had to take an actual physical course in his last school. He'd never had a chance to merit his physical ability against other students before. He wasn't anywhere near as fast as Uchiha or the Hyuuga, but he was certainly faster than Naruto or most of the other classmates. But that could be remedied. Uncaring about appearances as he was, Gaara still didn't like to be shown up when he could actually make a small effort on his part and excel at _something._ And so, Gaara actually found himself making an effort at doing something. Who knows, maybe he could actually play the basketball that was scheduled for that day. Meanwhile, some small part of him wondered _why _exactly he even bothered, but gave up to the fact that Gaara could actually do something if he wanted to put in the effort.

Teams were chosen leaders wee selected, Sasuke at the head of one team, Shikamaru grumbling at the head of the other. Shika had already selected Naruto and Chouji, leaving Sasuke to pick two. He invariably chose Neji before examining the rest.

"You." He pointed and it took Gaara a moment to realize that he was the subject of the point. A hairless brow and a slender black one rose in unison as both Neji and Gaara gave Sasuke an evaluating look. Finally assessing that the Uchiha was not joking, the sophomore crossed over to stand with the two seniors. A few minutes later, and teams were equally divided between the nineteen students, only a spike haired senior named Zaku standing along the side lines to hold score.

Sasuke looked at Gaara for a long moment before asking a question. "Do you even know how to play basketball?"

Gaara shrugged and said simply, "No. But I can learn." Taking the matter as settled, they moved to their respective positions on the court and waited for the game to begin.

Thirty minutes later, nineteen hot, sweaty boys filed into the locker room. Sasuke's team celebrating another smashing win that left Shikamaru's group in the dirt. Sasuke and Neji's superior smirks only served to enrage further a livid Naruto, who was shouting at the sleeping Shikamaru whom had called himself out and laid on a nearby bench. If he had managed to stay awake, the genius probably could have thought up a game plan to rival the raw force of the other team. But in his own words, it was "Too troublesome…". Therefore, Sasuke's team won again and Gaara learned that he actually _could _play basketball. He also learned that it was an extremely tiring and sweaty process. If he didn't change clothes, he'd _smell_ like gym clothes. Not an inviting idea, to say in the least. Thankfully, Sasuke decided that it was due in part to Gaara that the blonde dobe had been knocked out of the game. In amused spirits, he decided to lend Gaara an undershirt, a tee and some jeans.

"Here. Just give them back tomorrow." Sasuke stated in a monotonous voice as he handed the change of clothes over. Nodding, Gaara took them and found a secluded corner of the locker room to in which to change. He glanced about quickly to ensure that nobody saw, then quickly shed his own undershirt and replaced it with the new. After that, it was no problem exiting his former clothes and changing out into the clothes he had borrowed from Sasuke. The navy undershirt was one of the stretchy versions, so it fit him pretty well, but every thing else hung somewhat off of his thin frame. For a skinny kid, Gaara was pretty fit, but he really didn't have any muscle mass to fill out the clothes. It really didn't help that he was vertically challenged as well. And in so being, the jeans fit barely hanging off his hips and the black tee shirt gathered loosely to puddle around one side of his shoulders. Temari would have called it cute. Gaara just didn't care.

Gaara shoved his sweaty clothes into an empty locker and headed back out to the gym to await the ringing of the bell. No sooner than he had sat down on a bleacher than the bell let out a shrill ring, and Gaara had to leave to his next class.

He walked down the hall and noticed that Naruto and Zaku were heading in the same direction he was. As he opened the plain wooden door labeled 211, they walked in with him. An older man was standing at the front of the class, his knee length white hair jogging back and forth as he wrote a passage on the board, the sound of chalk against board being the predominate sound in the room. Gaara looked around and noticed that the seats in this class didn't seem to be assigned, so he chose one by a side window and sat down. Running a bored hand through his damp ruby locks, he regarded what the teacher was writing on the board with a slight raise to his brow.

Passages from a novel he had seen only once, in the possession of one of Temari's friends. They had left it lying on the coffee table in the living room; an innocent looking little orange novel. He had picked it up, curious of its contents. He had flipped it to a page in the middle and read less than two paragraphs before clapping it shut and lying it back on the table with a faint blush to his pale cheeks. Needless to say, it wasn't exactly suitable reading for young audiences. It was also how he knew that his first period teacher, Hatake Kakashi, had been reading a dirty novel. The novel his art teacher had been reading was a novel from the exact same series as the one that he had picked up two years back. Many times over the past few years, the short scene that he had read replayed over and over again in his mind on dark and sleepless nights when the chill breeze rattled the frosted panes of his window in rapid gusts.

Gaara was very well assured that his English teacher was more than a pervert. The old man probably ranked provert, if not even worse than that.

Finally, the teacher turned away from the board just as the bell rang, signaling that everybody should be seated and prepared for class.

"Alright, today we're going to analyze this passage from Icha Icha Paradaisu Vol. 1, and your homework is to take home a copy of the book and read chapters one through four and fill out the worksheet that I'm passing out at the end of class. Oh, and we have a new student. One  Sabaku no Gaara, so my attendance sheet says. I believe that that would be you." he finished, gesturing to Gaara. Replying with a curt nod, Gaara tugged at the loose weave of one of his fishnet gloves as the teacher began to go over the different literary terms for different parts of the passage. How boring indeed. If there were something less interesting than literary terms at that moment, Gaara would have been surprised to have known it existed.

"And so, class, is how you determine…" the teacher droned on, gesturing with his chalk at the marks on the blackboard.

A grand total of forty five minutes later, Gaara finally made it out of class, a small orange novel clasped inconspicuously beneath one arm. He headed directly for his locker in order to get rid of the damn thing as quickly as possible. Locker opened, book tossed inside and locker slammed shut once again with Gaara quickly retreating into the distance in search of his history class.

All the way around to the other side of the school, and there it was: Room 108, Umino Iruka. Walking in, Gaara decided that this class might be more interesting than the last few. At least this class room was homey feeling, having inherited a sense of personality from its constant inhabitant, a young and narrow man with brown hair held high by a band and with a scar adding a touch of flavor to his otherwise normal face. A student was already in the class collecting papers from the teacher to pass out during class. At first, Gaara thought it was a girl, but then the long haired boy turned to flash a warm smile in his direction and he realized his mistake.

Looking up, the teacher noticed Gaara and an open smile overtook his tanned features in greeting to his newest pupil. Iruka rose and paced towards Gaara, raising a hand in a palm-upward handshaking gesture. Gaara stared at the out held hand for a moment before taking up on the offer and giving the other man's hand a brief yet firm shake.

"I assume that you are Gaara, correct?" Iruka asked. Gaara confirmed him with a brisk nod. "Not a talker? That's okay. As long as your work is turned in on time, I have no quarrel with you. Well, class is scheduled to begin in a moment, so Haku here will direct you to your desk. Haku?" This last was addressed to the long-haired boy that was just now done sorting the papers he had been handed.

"Ah, yes Iruka-sensei. Right this way, Gaara-chan." Gaara rose a brow in reference to the familiarity with which Haku spoke to him as the other led him to a desk near a side window.

"Here we are, Gaara-chan." Haku seemed to think a moment before asking a question. "If I may ask, what brings you to Konoha? You don't have to answer if you don't wish to do so. I'm just a little curious." That said, Haku stood in wait of a response.

"Trouble at my last school." was all that Gaara said as he stared disinterestedly out the window, completely ignoring the other students that had taken up residence in the room. Haku walked off and took his own seat in the front row as Iruka took a stand in front of the class.

"Alright, since we've been studying western history this week, I've brought a guest today. He's all the way from The United States, Texas to be exact. Students, meet Yamashiro Aoba." A tall blonde haired man walked in from the door in the back of the classroom. "And although I call him a guest, he will actually be staying here for the rest of the year in order to finish his training here in Konoha." Iruka turned to the man and gave him a handshake before sitting in his chair. Much to his surprise, Aoba chose not to sit in the chair provided him, nor remain standing, but instead chose to sit on the edge of Iruka's desk.

"Um, well, Aoba-san." Iruka began. "How about you tell the students here about where you're from, what it is exactly that you do, and why you're here." Nodding as if his work there were done, Iruka settled back to watch his students reactions to what Aoba told them about the U.S.

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I would like to ask of you, who have waited so long, a question. Whom should eventually become paired with Gaara?

Please RnR. All comments and answers are welcome, although I may not incorporate all responses into future pairings.


	8. The Eventide of Innocence Part 2

_**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto or any of Masashi Kishimoto's characters.**_

_**If you want to hear me rant, read the followuing paragraph:**_

A/N: Not happy with the number of reviews I'm getting. Just for the record, I only have 9 reviews for this story. For ALL my stories, I have a total of 59 reviews. I have 8 stories with reviews, and I'm not counting the 1 story without any reviews. So Divide 59 by 8 and you get 7.375 reviews per story. Makes me feel like shit. I almost don't want to write at all. I know I make mistakes, somewhere, that I'd like somebody to help with. I'd like to hear opinions on what I write, how I write, or even on what YOU think I should write. I don't care if you review just to tell me my writing sucks, as long as you tell me WHY. Although, also just for the record: I have never gotten a single flame in all of my 59 reviews :). Hell, I don't mind if you review me just to bitch about how I never update anymore. I won't blame you. Although, I gotta say 6166 hits for 9 stories is pretty nice. That's averaged out to 685.1 hits per story. Ok, thats enough ranting. I'm not angry anymore. Thanks for listening. xD!

The Eventide of Innocence Part 2

Lunch. That one dreaded word. Gaara wished himself no part of this complicated 'lunch' process that most teenagers went through. Instead, he resolutely stalked away from the school building, towards some unnamed destination down the road. The city billboards with their pasted advertisements were passed by without a glance spared them. Long city blocks were spent away beneath the shadow of platform boots and grey sky. He was alone on the sidewalk, no other pedestrians walked with him and no cars bypassed him on the street. It was as if everybody was gathered at some other place at the end of the globe. This was an occasion of some celebration to Gaara. Quiet was exactly what he wanted, and exactly what he got.

After walking some two or three miles from the school, Gaara hopped up onto a cement railing in front of a small drug store. He dug his hand searchingly into a pocket while looking around idly. There were a few nice houses along the street, one or two really nice ones, and a few small-scale stores. Sighing in exasperation, Gaara switched hands and dug around in his other pocket, finally coming up with a broken watch. The band had snapped a few weeks ago, and Gaara had been too lazy to repair it, so the watch resided in any one of his pockets at irregular intervals. He usually ended up digging for it whenever he needed it, but it didn't really bother him much. The face on the watch read 11:40, and Gaara nodded before slipping it back into the pocket it had come from. He still had forty-five of his fifty-five minutes of lunch left.

Turning, the redhead slipped off of his cement perch and opened the door of the drugstore and walked in. Inside the store, as advertised by the sign in the window, was an old fashioned soda fountain and a mini deli. Gaara's eyes immediately landed on a row of overfilled peach turnovers.

It wasn't long before he was perched outside on the railing with a cherry-limeade float and two dripping pastries. He took a sip of the float before taking a big, satisfying bite of peach and flaky crust. It was the best damn peach turnover he had ever tasted, compliments to the cook. Unconsciously, Gaara licked up the glob of filling that slid down his chin and over his fingers, sucking the heavenly sugar from each pale digit. He repeated the process after he finished each pastry, and then he finished his float while humming happily to himself.

Standing up, Gaara glanced around in search of a trashcan and stuffed his napkins in the paper cup. When he finally spotted a trashcan, he headed towards it and tossed the remains of his lunch in it. Again, the broken watch made a belayed appearance after a quick yet thorough search of the wrong pocket. Blinking, Gaara read the display a second time, noting that it still read 12:13. He had spent thirty-three minutes eating pastries and sipping a float, which just happened to leave him a sparse seven minutes to make it back to school in time for his next class bell. Although he himself held few qualms about being late, Kankuro had expressly forbid him being late on the pretense that 'It's not gonna hurt a scrawny little brat like you to actually be on time for all your classes.'

Sighing, Gaara picked up his pace a little so that he was trotting back the way he had come from. Of course, once he made it within sight of the school, he dropped back to a fast walk. He somehow managed to make it into the school just a moment before the five-minute warning bell rang, signaling the end of lunch.

Gaara twitched. Then he twitched again as the man standing before him dropped his arms a little bit and began to take on a crestfallen pout.

"What. Do. You. Think. You. Are. Doing?" Gaara questioned in his coldest and most searing tone. The taller man shrugged a little and gave an unsure grin, putting his arms back down and chewing on his senbon nervously. Gaara quirked his hairless brow upwards, silently demanding and answer to his question as he crossed his arms in front of himself.

"Uh, well, you see…" The sandy-brunet poked uneasily at his own arm with a finger while trying to come up with a legitimate answer. "I'm your teacher and, uh, I just kinda thought, uh, you might, uh…want a…hug?" The man finished his response slowly as if still formulating it in his head, unsure if it would be taken well or not. Gaara was about to respond curtly, but someone beat him to it.

"Genma, are you trying to molest _another _new student?" The new figure stood beside the abruptly and profusely disagreeing teacher. Sighing, the scarred man swatted Genma over the head and pointed towards the desk at the head of the room. Taking that as his chance for getting out of things before bruises could form, Genma immediately scurried towards the desk. Turning back towards Gaara, the second man smiled resignedly and waved a hand towards Genma.

"Don't mind him. He's…a little…excited today. Hmm, by the way, that's Genma-sensei and I'm Raidou-sensei. If he asks you about sex, ignore him and you should be fine. He just tends to get a little overexcited, is all." Pausing to take a breath, Raidou smiled warmly and indicated the other students in the class. "Welcome to Study Hall."

Gaara stared for a moment before arching his brow again. "Sex?"

"Like I said, just ignore him. It makes everyone's lives easier. Trust me." With that, Raidou headed back towards the front of the room. Wordlessly, Gaara moved to the side and took a seat in the back of the room. He really didn't want to know anything further on the subject.

Since this was his first day at Konoha, the teachers had been rather light on his homework. That being, he had easily finished most of it in his classes. The redhead opened his binder and pulled out a sheet of paper and flipped open his Geometry book. There were only seventeen problems for him to do, and they were all on easy subjects like transmutation and translations. Easy as pie.

Ten minutes later, Gaara put his paper in his book and set it aside. As he pulled his binder to himself, Gaara glanced up to see what everybody else was doing. Genma was excitedly bouncing up and down about something or another while Raidou shook his head in a negative response. A couple of girls were clustered off to Gaara's left, giggling and chatting about this and that. Gaara noticed Hyuuga Neji sitting a few rows up and over and took note that the Hyuuga's nose was buried in a thick book and he seemed to be unaware of what was happening around him.

There were some other kids playing a game of some sort, and a few just taking the opportunity for a nap. Shikamaru was one of the more obvious of these. Sighing, Gaara crossed his arms and decided to copy Shikamaru's example.

Gaara glared into the gleaming gold eyes of his new biology teacher. The gold eyes glared back. The two had immediately come off to a bad start, Orochimaru-sensei refusing to acknowledge that his newest student had given a more apt response than he could have, and Gaara refusing to let the teacher disgrace him by refusing to acknowledge his response.

Orochimaru glared. Gaara glared right back. The class stared on, wordlessly.

Thanks for reading, and I'd REALLY appreciate it if you left a review.


	9. If Ever A Day of Torment

My document loader has not been allowing me to upload anything for 6 days. Otherwise, this would have been out a week ago. and ooooooohh! I think I'm going to have a boyfriend by next week! Sweet!

Chapter 8 is OUT! Finally done. I've been extremely unmotivated lately. Oh yeah, I'm ptretty sure I told _someone_ I was going to make this an entirely Kankuro point of view chapter. Well, that didn't happen. Sorry. But theres alot of Kankuro in this. Kind of. Meh. You'll find out.

DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Naruto. It is the property of Masashi Kishimoto. I own Leroj, though. Mine, all mine...Thx Please review!

If Ever A Day of Torment

**Kankuro POV**

_Shit, _Kankuro moaned to himself. There really wasn't any helping him now. He had a date, set in stone for tomorrow. _Not happening! Not happening! NOT HAPPENING! _Happening. Definitely happening.

Kankuro glared at Leroj as he pushed him aside to make room for himself at the lunch table beside Stephanie.

Gaara hated his new biology class. The teacher was a stubborn, cantankerous, debauched man who deserved to be shoved into a very small closet and tortured with phonics. Being the last and therefore longest class of the day, Gaara was not happy to be stuck with Orochimaru for the last class of every day for the rest of the school year. Pilfering small bits of knowledge from the man was about all Gaara could do, though. He had a feeling there would be serious consequences if he made any open rebellion towards the pale-skinned man. Therefore, Gaara only sent the man a tight-lipped glare as he stalked out of the room.

His anger lasted half of the walk to his locker before the half empty and seemingly endless hallways lulled him into a calmer state of mind. Counting up scores, Gaara came to the conclusion that it was Gaara 1- New School 0.

Sighing, the redhead dialled his combination and pulled the latch. Nothing happened. Pale green eyes narrowed in annoyance and Gaara's lips thinned. One more try. Slowly, to make sure he had it right, Gaara dialled the numbers again and pulled the latch. The redhead's brow lowered and eyes became slits surrounded by black.

WHAM! WHAM!

Reaching up again, Gaara pulled the latch. Growing angrier, his fist pulled back again to land the locker another blow when it was caught in a tight grip. Gaara's slitted glare turned to the side. Standing there, with an amused expression on his pale face as he held Gaara's straining arm in check, was Hyugga Neji.

"That really isn't the way to deal with Konoha lockers," Neji informed him sternly. "Hitting them only seems to give them a mind all their own. Here. Use this." The Hyuuga released Gaara's arm and reached into a pocket. He pulled something small and black out in the palm of his hand and slapped it on the front of the problematic locker right under the latch. Grabbing the magnet firmly, he slid it up. The latch clicked and the door came open.

"That," Neji intoned grvely. "Is how you open a locker."

Gaara stared at the magnet for a moment before looking at Neji again. The taller boy had the callousness to smirk at his blank stare. Pale green eyes began to narrow once more. A slender black eyebrow rose and the smirk turned into an openly appraising stare. They held their silence for several long moments before Gaara leaned back on his heels and turned to put his books in his locker. He had not lost, however, for the Hyuuga had broken gaze at the exact same moment.

"You're an interesting person, Gaara." Neji commented conversationally. "You do realize that kids even in seventh period are still getting high off your artwork? Tsunade-sama made all the art classes go to the cafeteria today because of it."

"Hn."

"You really don't talk much, do you? Well, I respect that. Mata ashita, Gaara." With that, the Hyuuga turned swiftly on his heel and he strode away, deep into the mess of hallways that made up Konoha High.

Sighing again, Gaara grabbed his book bag and walked out the double-wide doors at the end of the hall and out into the open air. He spotted Kankuro's hearse and made a beeline for it, ignoring the few by standing gawkers. Five minutes later……

"Did you make any friends? Are there any cute boys here?," Temari was literally bouncing in her seat as she drove. "Well? Huh, huh?" Gaara turned his face in the direction of his sister and stared at her, unblinking. Temari bounced around a few more times before grimacing and dropping it.

"Okay then. How about…"

"No."

"…Going out for dinner after we pick Kanky up?" Temari continued, knowing Gaara would say no before he even heard what she said.

"Pizza."

"NOOOOOOO!!!" Kankuro banged his fists on the game table, refusing to believe he had lost another game. "Game over my ASS! Gaara! Give me one of your tokens!" Kankuro stretched his hand out towards the redhead.

After about thirty seconds, he looked behind him and noticed Gaara staring at his palm. Looking down, Kankuro waggled his grubby fingers and wiped them on his jeans. Holding out his palm again, he gave a crooked grin as Gaara deposited one gleaming token in it.

"Thanks lil' bro. I'll get you one of those little rubber fishies or something once I get some tickets." Dutifully turning back to the game, Kankuro left Gaara wondering what exactly he would do with a little rubber goldfish. Finally, he decided it'd look cool safety pinned to his backpack, and wandered back to their table. There was one slice of pizza left, and if he had his way, it was going to join the other three in his stomach.

"…" Gaara stared at the small purple fish in his hand. He blinked as a blue and an orange one were added to either side of it.

"Three fish. I get the yoyo." Kankuro finished his statement with a twist of his wrist and let his yoyo drop a few inches before pulling it back up.

"And what do I get?" Temari demanded, coming up behind Kankuro. Both brothers stared at her for several moments before Gaara held up the orange fish and poked it at her. Temari held out a finger and poked the fish in its buggy eye, and the fish 'swam' over and settled itself on her shoulder.

"Alright. A fish. Now get in the hearse so we can go home. I have an exam Monday." Temari and her fish walked towards the doors and Gaara followed, a fish cupped gently in each palm.

The black hearse glided down main street Konoha, headed away from the Chuck E. Cheese's. Three Sabaku's sat comfortably, listening to Pink Floyd as the second eldest drove towards Suna. Suddenly, a shape jumped into the road fifty feet in front of them. Tapping the breaks, the hearse slowed to a stop, barely nudging the person standing in front of it.

"Sweet! A ride! Ukon! Ukooooooooooooooooooon!" The strange teen jumped up and down in front of the hearse as Temari, Gaara and Kankuro stared dumbly at it. Another, taller teen walked from the side of the road and soundly popped the other over the head with a fist. Then, he turned walked over and tapped on the driver's side window.

As the window slowly rolled down to reveal a grumpy looking Kankuro, Ukon pushed his identical twin back from looking over his shoulder.

"Uh, can you give me and this idiot a ride?"

Kankuro stared at the hitch hiker's freakishly colored hair and blinked.

"A ride?" He glanced back at Temari, who shrugged and put her fishy back on her shoulder. "Sure."

"Sweet! Ukon! I get to sit by the little guy that's asleep in back!"

"No. You don't." Ukon remarked as he opened the side door and slid in next to Gaara.

"Ukooooooooon!" The younger twin pouted, climbing in next to his brother.

"Sakon. Behave." Ukon leaned over his pouting twin and pulled the hearse door shut. "Uh….What's your names?" He asked Kankuro absently.

"Kankuro." Kankuro pointed to himself. "Temari. Gaara." With each name, the Sabaku pointed to the person in question. "You?" His finger pointed at the lavender haired twins.

"I'm Ukon. This dumbass is Sakon. Twins, if it wasn't obvious." He paused thoughtfully. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to be heading towards Suna, would you? We live somewhere between here and there." Ukon pushed Sakon's head into the window and held it there until his brother stopped pulling the threads out of his jacket.

"Yeah."

"Ukoooooooooooooooon! Ukon! Give it to me!" Sakon whined plaintively, reaching for his brother's Rubik's cube. Sakon had been trying to get the Rubik's cube for almost five minutes now.

Finally, the hearse rolled to a stop in front of a small ramshackle house about halfway to Suna.

"Shut up, Sakon. Look, take it, We're home." He turned to Kankuro and shook his hand. "Thanks for the ride, man. Sorry if Sakon annoyed you. I really appreciate this. Pay you back, some day." With that, he climbed out and shut the door of the hearse. As it pulled out of the driveway, Kankuro saw the older teen dragging the waving younger into the house.

Slowly, Gaara opened his eyes and sighed.

"Okay." Gaara sat on the couch and pulled his book bag up onto his lap. Temari nodded. Neither she nor Kankuro were going to be home tomorrow. Temari was going to go in for an evening tutorial class at the college, and Kankuro was going to a concert with some girl. Otherwise, Gaara was on his own tomorrow evening.

"I'm making you something to eat. I'll just put it in the fridge and you can put it in the microwave when you're hungry. Got it?" Temari was leaning up against the wall, watching her younger brother contemplate how to put his purple and blue fishies on his book bag.

"Hn." A safety pin made its way through the belly of the purple fish and Gaara pinned it next to his mushroom patch. The blue fish was stabbed and he stuck it down towards the bottom.

"Alright. Goodnight Gaara." Temari walked over and kissed his cheek, making him lean away and grimace. She chuckled and went to her room.

Bringing his hand up, the redhead swiped at his cheek with it and stood. Kankuro was already in bed, and all the lights were already out except the one in the living room. Dropping his bag in the corner by the TV, Gaara flicked off the light switch and went into the bathroom. He didn't bother turning on the light as he dropped his clothes in the hamper. He grabbed a damp rag and washed away his eyeliner. Naked, he walked down the hallway and into his room. The comb on his dresser made sure his hair wouldn't get to unruly overnight, and a pair of dark green silk pajama bottoms made him ready for bed.

Climbing under the covers, Gaara thought about how quiet Shukaku had been, and wondered how long the silence would last. His last thought was centered on what he was going to do the next evening.

Please review!


	10. Display Control

I'm on a roll! Got this chapter done in about 8 hours altogether. There's a cute scene at the beginning of this one. And I'm actually getting started on my nonexistant plot, now that I've established characters. Please review! Makes me all warm and happy inside...sighs happily Thank you to those who have reviewed. You are forever in my gratitude.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto, or any of its characters. They are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. Only my created characters are my own.

Display Control

"…" Kankuro stared down wordlessly at his brother. Gaara blinked back up at him a few times and slowly looked around. He was sitting on the floor with his legs wrapped up in his sheets and his pillow tucked under his arms.

"Gaara, what _are_ you doing?" Kankuro tilted his head and laughed softly. Rarely did he get to see his brother in such an odd position.

"…sleeping?"

With a short snort of laughter, Kankuro leaned down and grabbed the sheets around his brother's ankles and yanked. Gaara slid forward a few inches and the sheets let loose their grip on him.

"Get ready. Thirty minutes till we gotta go." He tossed the sheets at Gaara and walked downstairs.

Grabbing the sheets with a frown and pushing them off of his head, Gaara glared at them. In his mind, he was wondering at another night of complete silence. He had slept deep enough to not even stir awake for a moment when he had rolled off the bed. Shukaku rarely stayed silent for more than four days, and it usually ended disastrously. Silence for too long was a bad omen. Shaking his head, Gaara stood up and tossed his pillow on the bed, glad that it had hidden his wrists from Kankuro.

Stepping over to his closet, he threw open the door and began rummaging for something to wear.

"Hey! Hey!" A hand waved in front of his face. "Are you listening to me?" Gaara cracked open a green eye and moved his arm up and over the top of his head so that he could glare at Naruto. The blond had accosted him after he had learned that they weren't working out today and saw that the redhead had laid down on the bleachers to rest.

"Would you go away if I said 'no'?" Gaara asked sedately. He had learned that being calm about things got much more result at Konoha than snapping loudly.

"No!"

"Then why should I listen to you? You're annoying." Gaara's arm dropped back over his face. "Now go away."

Naruto gaped at him, and turned to look at the shadow standing over his shoulder. It was Sasuke. The Uchiha was smirking as he pushed his bangs to the side, amused at the byplay.

"You do realize that he doesn't want to listen to you, dobe?" The brunets voice was smooth, although if you listened carefully, you might catch the hint of a chuckle. "There are much more important things to do than listen to you."

"What? Like sleep!" Naruto retorted, pointing at the reclining redhead.

"Exactly." Sasuke's smirk twitched a little higher at the look on the blond's face. However, it faded as students began moving towards the exit at the ring of the bell.

Sighing, Gaara picked himself up and grabbed his backpack. He needed to get to his locker early in case it decided to throw another fit. It had worked flawlessly the first time he had opened it and all throughout his first day, then it had given him hell after school was out. Now, it was opening again. It was almost like his locker had taken on the behavior of its former emo occupant.

Thankfully, it worked without trouble, and he made it to class with more than enough time. Sighing, Gaara set down the small orange book he had been assigned and opened it to the second chapter. It wasn't that the book wasn't well written, because it was _very_ well written, but that the subject matter was questionable. Having only read one chapter, Gaara now knew more about the 'romantic love scene' than he had ever expected to learn in his entire life.

Settling his elbows on the desk and resting his head in his hands, Gaara settled down to read.

"Oh my god!!!!! It's you!!! You go to school here! Ukoooooooooooon! Ukon!" Sakon had his arms wrapped around an extremely shocked Gaara, and was shrieking for his twin. "Ukon! Oh my god! Ukon!"

Gaara's eyes were wide. If you thought about it, you might even say he looked a little…scared. Of what, he wouldn't tell you, although one might guess it had something to do with the exuberant Sakon hugging him at that very moment. With slow, jerky movements, Gaara's arms came up and his hands gripped Sakon's wrists. He pulled them from around him and set them at Sakon's sides before slowly releasing the other boy and stepping back. Sakon stared at him funnily for a moment before a fist smack him in the ear.

"Sakon, how many times do I have to tell you to leave people alone?" Ukon was standing with his arms crossed in front of him, staring with a raised brow as his younger twin pouted.

"Every time?" Sakon ventured from beneath his hanging bangs.

"Every time." Ukon but an arm around his brother's shoulders and the boy perked up. "But if you didn't, would you still be Sakon?" Sakon grinned haphazardly.

Ukon turned to Gaara who was walking slowly away, so as not to catch Sakon's attention. He gave the Sabaku a salute, and ushered his brother back into class. Now that he wasn't being held captive, Gaara was able to make it to Study Hall only a minute after the bell.

"Sabaku, you're late…" Raidou-sensei warned. Nodding, Gaara sat down and pulled out his sketch pad. The person he had began to draw for Art class was unfinished, and needed to be turned in first thing Monday. Sadly, the drawing had to be based off of a picture clipped from a magazine.

Laying down the freakishly interesting clipping of a samurai dressed in a festival haori and hakama, Gaara grabbed his selection of red colored pencils and began shading in the rather Kabuki-like face paint the man wore. Once done with that, he moved on to coloring the scarlet sash holding the man's katanas in place and the elaborately worked dragon fan he was holding. Ignoring the person who sat down in front of him, Gaara changed to a range of yellows and golds and began filling in the inlay of the samurai's armor.

A finger touched down on the paper in front of his pencil and followed the lines of a delicate trace work of gold inlaid flowers along the side of the breastplate.

"This is very well done. You have a talent." Hyuuga Neji's lowered voice was approving. "I think that Kakashi-sensei will be quite pleased with the work you have done."

Gaara glanced irritably up before pushing the Hyuuga's hand away from his drawing and continuing his work. After a moment, the hand made its way over to Gaara's pencil bag and snatched one of the blues. Gaara's lips thinned in irritation, but he let Neji amuse himself in examining the pencil in hope that it would make the Hyuuga leave him alone.

"Kimberly General's. Good quality. You know your stuff." Neji commented idly, hoping to get some sort of comment from the redhead. Instead, all he got was a huff and having the pencil snatched away from him and put back in its proper place. After a few more minutes of the Hyuuga persistently annoying him, Gaara put his pencils down and pushed his drawing to the side before staring straight at Neji.

"Don't you have anything better to do?" Gaara asked, frustrated. "A book maybe? Anything that doesn't involve bothering me?"

Neji smiled softly at the rise he had gotten out of the redhead and sat back.

"No. I finished that yesterday." He reached up and pulled his hair up and over his left shoulder. "So I thought I'd watch you draw."

"I cannot draw with you bothering me." Gaara pointed out, ruffled by Neji's offhand manner. Why the Hyuuga should be so closed around everyone else and not him was aggravating. Grabbing his book bag, Gaara set it on his lap and began packing away his drawing supplies.

Something caught Neji's eye, and he pulled on the corner of the bag to see it more clearly.

"A fish?" Neji's voice was inquisitive. Gaara only glanced at him before putting his last set of pencils up. Intending to ignore him, Gaara folded his arms and laid his head down. However, Neji refused to be ignored. When he _actually_ chose to speak to a person of his own will, he expected them to respond politely. He was not used to being ignored.

"Why a fish?" Several long moments of silence passed before Gaara finally peeked from between his arms.

"You're not going to go away, are you?" Gaara was glaring now. Inside, he could feel Shukaku's amusement.

"Answer my question, and I might." Stated Neji in a rather conceited manner. Gaara glared at him for another long moment before responding.

"My brother gave it to me. Good, now shut up." Shukaku's amusement seemed to grow, but surprisingly, the demon did not seem to feel like making a guest appearance. Neji's face went blank for a moment before he lowered his face close to Gaara's and glared at him.

"Do not tell me what to do, Sabaku." Neji's glare last for only so long as it took Gaara to lean back and bitchslap him.

"Next time, it'll be my fist, _Hyuuga_." Gaara growled before standing and stalking to the other side of the room. Staring at the redhead in shock, Neji didn't notice the stares he was getting, or the fact that his jaw was still hanging until the bell snapped him out of it.

Thinking to himself as he walked towards the bus stop, Gaara was quite satisfied by the look of utter disbelief that had flashed over Neji's face the moment after he had slapped him. Seeing the Hyuuga staring blankly with his jaw slack made him almost want to laugh out loud. Almost. Shukaku had been having a fine fit of laughter ever since, and Gaara actually didn't mind. Any of the times that Shukaku had ever been in high spirits, a rarity among rarities, Gaara found that he actually could like the demon. The few times that it had happened, Gaara actually found himself enjoying himself as the demon's good and often irresponsible natured humor infected him.

It was odd that Shukaku could be so blood thirsty most of the time, and yet become almost amiable when the mood struck him. It was not the first time that Gaara had considered trying to get the demon to take a survey on bipolar disorder. His reminiscing was shattered when the voice spoke up in his mind, talking to itself.

_Fun, fun! Sweet, glorious shock. His face, elation, _Shukaku was still chuckling in his depths. _ The white-eyed one is diverting,_

_'Do you even know how to make sense? All you do is rave.' _Gaara remarked to Shukaku. He did not expect the demon to answer back. It had stopped that long ago, when he had began trying to hold his own against its baiting. Silence. A listening silence.

_Sensible notions, hateful emotions. A child in a noose. His hands come up, his feet go down and at the last moment finds he is cut loose. _

Gaara recognized the lines. He had read them in an old poetry book at the library in Suna. He had not thought that Shukaku would memorize them.

_So you see, he is free and his little eyes weep, for the deed that he has been done. The demon inside, its golden eyes wide, realizes what has been done._

Sensing something important in the lines addressed to him, Gaara silently willed Shukaku to continue. After a pregnant pause, filled with a roiling in Shukaku's emotions, the demon spoke the last lines.

_A loop in a knothole secured by a spoke, from it dangling the end of the rope. A single claw cut and a single good hope, it was the demon who separated the child and cable and realized that of compassion, he was enabled._

The last line was halting, questioning. And definitely directed at Gaara. In a way, what Shukaku said made a lot of sense. During the demon's four day silence, it had been thinking and rethinking those lines. However, Shukaku's exact intentions could probably never be fathomed.

_'A truce?,' _Gaara questioned the beast. The answering emotion was both a positive and a negative.

_A method of control, _Shukaku spoke slowly, and more soberly than Gaara had ever heard it. _A way of keeping at bay. Locked up inside and with nothing to do, I become restless and then so do you. Taking part will help savor the heart, and make me as sane as you._

The implications were mind boggling. Gaara took a moment to think on them as he paid his bus fee and took a seat at the back. Settling into the plastic seat, Gaara propped his bag in the seat beside him and crossed his arms.

_'We'll see,' _Gaara thought at Shukaku and turned to glance out the window. He sensed a hint of satisfaction in return. Never had Shukaku spoken to him in such a manner. Usually, the demon tried to coax and taunt him into its wishes, or taking control and utilizing them itself. Many bad events had come about for Gaara that way, although the last of which that had sent Gaara to this new school was not such a bad thing for him. Relaxing into the seat, Gaara kicked back for the long ride back to Suna.


End file.
